Episode 8 - The Distance Between Us
After being deposited on Urvasi, the crew is looking to rebuild. Urvasi public transport is taken to a bar frequented by students to get a drink. There they meet some students who educate them on the liberal laws of Urvasi and put them in touch with Professor Manoi Co, Head of Biology and Biochemistry at the University of Asif. The crew books an appointment at 8:00 AM the next day to meet the professor at her laboratory. Val and Braugh find a local poet from a posting online. They contact the poet and decide to visit him in person. The two impress the poet, ?name?, and find out that he wants to publish a series of critiques of his poetry and provides copies of the poetry for both Val and Braugh. As the star of Asif (?name?) drops below the horizon, the crew gathers at the pub, Beakers. Tad, Thaymus, Ori and Braugh create Ocelot Research Enterprises Incorporated as a front for ongoing research and exploration. Tad and Braugh get a room for the night. Ori, Thaymus, and Valentine enjoy the university night life. Ori experiments on a drunken man and takes him back to the university dorms for a free nights rests and Stinger* observations. Thaymus drinks too much and ends up with Valerie Bielski, Thaymus may have been her first. Valentine impresses a hot co-ed named Sunisa Bielski with his military tattoos and she takes him back to her dorm for the night. The three meet up the next morning to compare conquests before Brough and Tad join them. The crew heads to the university. Professor Co and Ackerman spend a day looking into comparative tissue samples of the Psitogaster Virus found on Jura between psionic and non-psionic humans. Minoy is impressed with the work by Ackerman and offers an ongoing research partnership; Ori accepts. Ori is also able to extract and amplify the active ingredient in the waspdog stinger. Minoy also informs Ori that her ongoing research is to investigate the strange drug among the population and any connection it might have to the recent student deaths. Tad, Thaymus and Ori stalk the halls of the university but are unable to find the Chancellor. Tad is determined and stumbles across the execuitve assistant to Chancellor Danae Milstead. Tad begins a campus recruitment campaign for Ocelot Research Enterprises Incorporated, but is stopped short by campus security. A member of the UoASS ( University of Asif Student Society ) suggests Tad use a poster campaign instead of the illegal rally. Val and Brough use the day to read through the poet's poetry, discovering that it is truly very bad. Neither has begun writing a critique. Brough takes a lesson with personal trainer and combat instructor and learns a new routine. Thaymus enrolls in the UoA psionics program to help master his abilities. The crew, sans Ori because he has no money for the down payment, takes a loan for a ship. Ori takes a loan for a hover bike; the rest of the crew is envious.